It was a strong start in the British Superbike Championship for Stockport’s Christian Iddon, as the Series visited Donington Park, in Leicestershire, for the opening two rounds of the 2017 season. Iddon taking a podium in Race One, whilst missing out narrowly on making it a double podium in Race Two.
Christian ran strongly during Free Practice One, aboard his Tyco BMW, finishing just seven-tenths of a second off the fastest time set by 2016 Champion, Shane Byrne [Ducati].
“I hadn’t had to push particularly hard” admitted Iddon, “so to have such good pace without trying all that hard was very positive”.
Although struggling during FP2 with an electrical fault, former Super Moto Champion, Iddon only got to set two flying laps, he still managed to get to within six-tenths of the quickest time of Leon Haslam on his Kawasaki.
Saturday brought rain for the final Free Practice session of the weekend, so little could be taken from the times overall. Iddon showed the bikes potential in the wet, however, by claiming third fastest, leaving him confident should the weather turn during the rest of the British summertime.
The afternoon’s Qualifying session had to be cancelled due to an incident on circuit, leaving grids for the following days first Race set from aggregate times of all three Practice sessions. It didn’t do Christian any favours, however, as FP2, where Iddon had completed the fewest number of laps, turned out to be the quickest. It left the former World Superbike rider in tenth spot, of the twenty-seven riders.
Iddon made a blinding start to Race One, claiming to fifth place on the opening lap, despite dropping a place two laps later, Christian, confident of his tyres, climbed to fourth behind Peter Hickman [BMW], and claimed the final podium spot from ‘Hicky’ with two laps remaining.
The Tyco BMW rider made another good start to Race Two, grabbing one place from seventh on the grid, on the opening lap. Again, conserving tyres, Iddon climbed as high as third with two laps to go, but it was Glenn Irwin [Ducati], who had looked after his tyres particularly well, who nicked third place on the final lap of the Race.
“It’s been a positive start to the season” explained Christian. “We’ve claimed a strong points haul, and we’re ready to carry on.
“We’re on the short circuit [next time out, at Brands Hatch], so times will be ridiculously close. It [Brands] wasn’t my best circuit last year, but we’ll do our best to change that”.
Following the cancellation of Qualifying, Christian added; “I’d just like to say that my thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved in Saturday’s incident”.
More photos from Donington Park can be found HERE